‘Does your husband pay any child support?’
For the first time Sandra’s dark eyes flashed anger. It was as if something deep within her was hidden-and as though she was afraid of exposing her hatred.
‘Of course not,’ she said bitterly. ‘He and his girlfriend are further south-he’s a cane-cutter and makes a heap, but I’m left with nothing but his debts. His debts and the kids.’
Luke nodded. ‘But you’d like some help?’
‘I’ve no hope of getting it.’ Sandra’s voice flattened again. ‘He spends as fast as he earns.’
‘No.’ Luke smiled then. ‘The new rules require all employees-even casual workers-to register tax file numbers with employers wherever they work, and there’s no way your husband can be working without doing that. All we have to do is ask Social Security to place a garnishee on his wages. You’ll be paid before he is. And we’ll ask for his debts to be transferred to his name. If you’ve sole responsibility for the children there should be no problem there.’ He grinned. ‘And he’ll find his debtors have no trouble garnisheeing even more of his wages. Your husband might find himself with a little less easy money in the future, Mrs Mears. And you might find things a whole lot easier.’
Sandra stared, hope and disbelief warring visibly in her tired eyes. ‘If…if I lived in town I could sell the car…’
‘That’s right.’
‘But-’ Sandra swallowed ‘-folks around here
think I’m a tart. Because I got pregnant before I was married. They’d give me a hard time…’
Nikki moved then. She rose and walked around the table. ‘Sandra, there are lots like you in the town,’ she said gently. ‘Everyone has their ghosts. You can either move to a bigger city where you can be anonymous or stay here, look people in the eye and ride it out. You’ll find history is forgotten as long as you act as though it’s forgotten. Honest!’
Sandra looked up and smiled. ‘You had a hard time too, didn’t you, Doctor?’
‘I sure did,’ Nikki said ruefully. ‘But I still wanted to stay. A small town has some good things going for it when it comes to raising children.’ She touched Sandra’s shoulder. ‘And there are supports here that you won’t find in the city. If you accept them.’
‘I should have before this.’ Sandra hesitated, looking from Luke to Nikki. ‘If I’d admitted I was in trouble earlier, I could have got help…I wouldn’t have hurt Karen maybe…’
‘You’re asking for help now,’ Luke said gently. ‘That’s all that matters.’ He rose as well, handing Sandra a slip of paper. ‘The Housing Commission tells me there’s a house vacant at the moment. Go and have a look before you commit yourself.’
‘But…’
‘But what?’ He was smiling down at the girl, daring her with his eyes. ‘This is going to take courage, Sandra. But you have it. I know it, and so does Karen.’
‘Karen…’
He nodded. ‘Your little girl has faith in you. You’re all she has, Sandra.’
‘Can I take her home?’
Luke shook his head. ‘Not yet. You need time to sort yourself out, and Karen needs you at your best. Until you move you’ll be worried and anxious, and that’s the time when Karen is most likely to be at risk, isn’t it?’
Sandra hung her head. ‘Yes,’ she whispered. ‘But I wouldn’t…’
‘We can’t risk that.’ Luke’s voice was firm. ‘Karen doesn’t need hospital but she does need care. I’m not fussed about involving community services and sending her to Cairns for foster care. I suggest that she spend the next couple of weeks with us at Whispering Palms.’
Nikki’s eyes widened. She opened her mouth to protest but Luke’s eyes were on her, hard and challenging.
‘We have a great housekeeper, a comfortable bed and a little girl who’ll enjoy your daughter’s company. You can pop in and see her once a day, but you can have two weeks’ time out from each other.’ He smiled. ‘It’ll make you realise just how much you do care for your eldest daughter, and how much you risk losing if you don’t put her first.’
‘I don’t risk losing-’
‘Yes, you do.’ Luke’s smile faded. ‘Sandra, if I reported this break to community services, they’d have no choice but to place Karen in foster care. Now, what we’re offering is an alternative. Do you accept?’
Sandra looked wildly from Nikki to Luke and back again. ‘But…but you don’t want my daughter. She’ll be a nuisance…’
‘We’d love to have your daughter as our guest,’ Luke said firmly. ‘Whispering Palms is built for children, isn’t it, Dr Russell?’
Nikki took a deep breath. She looked down at Sandra, and read the desperate need in her eyes. This woman had reaped a harvest more bitter than Nikki’s from her relationship with her man. And Nikki could help. Luke was right.
‘Whispering Palms is built for children,’ she repeated slowly. She smiled at Sandra and her voice firmed. ‘We’d love to have Karen.’
‘You could have asked me!’
Nikki barely waited until Sandra had closed the door behind her before her anger burst forth. ‘For heaven’s sake, Luke Marriott, who do you think you are? It’s my house!’
‘And Karen needs it.’
‘And you need it. And so does half the population of North Queensland, as far as I know. And you intend inviting them home. Home! My home. Not your home, Luke Marriott, my home!’
‘Nikki Russell, do you know how extraordinarily beautiful you are when you’re angry?’
Nikki slumped back into her chair and gazed up at the man before her in fulminating fury. ‘If you think you can worm your way around me with your insincere compliments to get you what you want…You don’t care, do you?’
‘For your privacy?’ He smiled. ‘Not a lot. It seems you’re taking enough care of that for both of us.’
‘Just because I like keeping to myself-’
‘And blocking the world out.’ He shook his head. ‘Nikki, Amy needs the rest of the world, even if you don’t.’
‘Luke Marriott, I am not your patient.’
‘No?’
‘No!’
‘Well, then.’ His smile deepened and he pulled his white coat from his shoulders, hanging it behind the door. ‘If you’re not my patient, then you can come to lunch with me. Hungry, Dr Russell?’
‘No.’
‘Liar,’ he said equitably. ‘Coming, or do I have to sling you over my shoulder and take you by force?’
‘You wouldn’t dare!’
Once more the irrepressible smile.
‘Try me, Dr Russell. Maybe we’d both enjoy it.’
Nikki glared. Luke’s smile didn’t slip. She placed one foot tentatively forward and Luke’s smile deepened even further. He would enjoy it, Nikki realised. He’d enjoy carrying her past her patients and receptionist with no thought at all for her dignity…with no thought for the fact that she was here forever in this town and had her reputation to consider.
‘I’m going back to Whispering Palms for lunch,’ she said half-heartedly, but he simply shook his head and took her hand.
‘Beattie packed me enough lunch for three,’ he told her. ‘I want sea, sun, sandwiches and swim in that order. Let’s go, Dr Russell.’
‘I don’t-’
‘If you’re worried about your precious virtue, you needn’t worry,’ he smiled. ‘We’re taking Karen.’
‘Karen?’ Nikki said blankly. ‘But she’s in hospital.’
‘For the next three minutes,’ he agreed. ‘We’re taking her to the beach for lunch and then you’re taking her home to Whispering Palms.’
‘Luke Marriott, do you have any idea what you’re doing to me?’ Regardless of listening ears on the other side of
